Alexei Maklakov (Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Biogerontology, Director of Research at BIO UEA):

Hanne Carlsson (Lab manager and Research Associate): Hanne has been working in our lab for 2 years as a research assistant, and then continued to do her MSc degree on ‘Parental age effects on longevity and ageing’. Her MSc project was a collaboration with the Lind lab at Uppsala University and was co-supervised my Martin Lind and myself. Now Hanne is a Research Associate at UEA and organises the life in the lab, as well as running her own projects and helping on the projects of the group members. 

Annabel Kimberley (ERC-funded Research Technician): Annabel joined our lab in Autumn 2021. She is currently working on transient early-life effects on fitness and ageing using life-span extending pharmacological, genetic and dietary treatments. Annabel also provides general assistance across the group’s projects.

Dr. Sara Irish (Postdoctoral student): I am primarily interested in exploring the reasons behind why ageing has evolved. By combining both experimental and field research techniques in a model organism, my PhD project investigated the costs and potential trade-offs involved in experimentally extending lifespan in the presence of real-world environmental stressors. I am also interested in the role of ageing in population dynamics and how our understanding of this could influence conservation efforts.

Dr. Edward Ivimey-Cook (Lecturer and Honorary Lab Member): Ed has a general interest in ageing, maternal effects, and quantitative genetics. In particular, he is interested in understanding how biological processes and life-history trade-offs contribute to the vast observed diversity in trait ageing trajectories. In his previous project with us, he explored the links between life history trade-offs and transgenerational effects on offspring performance. For his PhD, he used experimental and widescale comparative analyses to investigate the detrimental effects of increasing maternal age manifested on offspring traits. Additionally, he explored the relative contribution of natural selection in helping to shape the vast diversity of ageing patterns that exists across the tree-of-life.

Dr. Elizabeth Duxbury (ERC-funded Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate): Transgenerational consequences of lifespan extension, testing trade off theories, linking proximate and evolutionary theories of ageing; combining genetic tools (RNAi, mutant strains, NGS) with experimental evolution and life history assays. Previously, conducted PhD research into the sex-specific life history effects of dietary manipulation, with Tracey Chapman (UEA). Most recently explored the evolution and genetics of virus resistance in natural populations of fruit fly species, with Frank Jiggins in the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge.

Dr. Zahida Sultanova (ERC-funded postdoc): Zahida spent her ageing-career trying to understand why ageing evolved and to find the ways to slow it down. During her PhD, she looked for the answers to a broad range of questions about the evolution and mechanisms of sex-specific ageing. In her post-doc project with us, she explored the link between different fasting regimes and nutrient-sensing signalling pathways.

Dr. Ben Cole (BBSRC-funded PhD student): Ben has a general interest in how climate change is impacting insects, with a particular focus on fertility. During his PhD, he explored the links between heatwave conditions of varying length and sex-specific reproductive damage using a model beetle (Tribolium castaneum).

Yvonne Ridge (ERC-funded Research Technician): Yvonne joined our lab in Autumn 2021. She worked on transient early-life effects on fitness and ageing using life-span extending pharmacological, genetic and dietary treatments. Yvonne also provided general assistance across the group’s projects.

Dr. Ramakrishnan Vasudeva (NERC-funded Senior Research Associate): Ram is interested in understanding the impacts of thermal stress through reproduction and its consequences on individuals and populations using experimental approaches. Ram is interested in the consequences of plastic responses within primary reproductive traits in insect models. More recent work has focused on male-specific reproductive sensitivities to experimental heatwave scenarios and its impacts on fitness. Other areas of work involve postcopulatory sexual selection using experimental evolution.

Katie Johnson (MSci student): Katie joined our lab to run a project on the role of insulin/IGF-1 signalling in anti-viral immunity in C. elegans in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Duxbury.

Dr. Laura Travers (ERC-funded Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate): Laura has a broad interest in ageing, sexual selection, and evolutionary genetics. In particular, she is interested in understanding how trade-offs between life history traits such as reproduction and lifespan drive evolutionary change. In the previous project, she explored links between evolutionary and proximate causes of ageing. For her PhD, she investigated the evolutionary basis and consequences of multiple mating in females.

Dr. Kris Sales (full-time BBSRC-funded Research Technician): Kris was primarily linked to a project exploring the trans-generational consequences of life-history trade-offs, using life-span extending pharmacological and dietary treatments. However, he also provides general assistance across the group’s projects. Kris has broad interest in using laboratory experiments to elucidate what factors drive the variation in longevity, reproduction and behaviour. His PhD, with Matt Gage (UEA), investigated the impact of climate warming and heatwaves on reproduction in male insects using Tribolium castaenum.